It went real brittle and shattered into pieces.
I just can't see how leather would shatter......
Why don't you just live by the rules? From the BCA leagues rulebook:
d. The cue tip must be composed of leather, fibrous, or pliable material. The cue tip on break cues must be made of leather with no non-leather materials added to the contacting surface.
That would mean no laminated tips then.
The rule says "no non-leather materials added to the contacting surface." The glue in a laminated tip isn't on the contacting surface.
the resin won't be on the contacting surface either. It would just act like a glue, most of it would be pressed out when the tip is pressed.
I don't see how it can be impregnated into the tip without its being on the surface as well. And even if that were possible, the contacting surface is not fixed for all time - they wear down or are scuffed down.
As a side note - after watching some of the US Open this past week, it seems that many of the pros aren't using the big bang for breaks. Ralf and Mika, for example, were shooting a little off center trying to make the wing ball, and were doing it most of the time.
... The glue in a laminated tip isn't on the contacting surface.
I was thinking about seeing if a cheap tip like a Lepro would soak up thin super glue. It might ended up crumbling though. I think I'll give it a try and see what happens.
Sure it can be. Because of the curvature of the tip (e.g., "dime shaped"), the contacting surface often is composed of leather from more than one of the layers of leather -- as well as some of the glue at the seams between layers.
I know what already works good. I'm just interested in what might work better. I like to improve on things, If people didn't say to themselves "how can I make this better?" we would still be driving carberated cars, and watching black and white tube T.V.'s!!! I will try my resin pressed tip. It may suck, It may work good, I may feel no difference, but at least my curiosity will be cured for that and I can move on.